A particularly gruesome find in 1968 gave scholars insight into the practice of crucifixion.

In a burial cave at Giv’at ha-Mivtar just outside Jerusalem, archaeologists found a tomb. In the tomb were several ossuaries. One ossuary contained the bones of a man scholars think was killed in his twenties. A large nail was stuck in one of the man’s ankle bones. Apparently, the man was killed by crucifixion. Most scholars think the man was killed around the same time as Jesus.